Health trackers: The pebble or the pillow?

Packed with sensors and Al, wearables promise better health and sleep—but can tech truly replace awareness, accuracy, and human instinct?

- BY PRATIMA HARIGUNANI

All that remains to happen now is a lullaby. Everything else is pretty much here. Health wearables, especially sleep-health ones, are now intelligent and empathetic, personalised and real-time, intuitive and interconnected. Now, whether all these magic gilds the lily or really makes it smell betterthat part still needs to be ironed out. Especially when health issues, like good sleep, are more complex than merely cracking some data puzzle.

This year’s MWC in Barcelona saw a lot of new and shiny stuff on that bed, especially with Al and sensors turning into not-so-strange bedfellows. We saw demonstrations and peeks offered by all sorts of players there. From Lenovo Group, Samsung Electronics, and Intel, neural interface and gesture-based control solutions; to the Mudra Link wristband from Al-based wearable gesture control technology player Wearable Devices; to instant heart-rate readings, ECG capabilities in forms like the Honor Ultra watch, Xiomi Watch S4 as well as fitness tracking devices from Tecno and Mibro.

There was also the Ukrainian-founded (and UAE-based) smart contact lens startup Xpanceo, which introduced the smart contact lens concept for real-time health monitoring, AR prompts, and vision improvements for colour blind people. This one also packs a wireless powering companion, an IOP sensor, and a biochemical sensor.

It also gave a glimpse of the Biosensing Smart Contact Lens that could measure body parameters directly from tear fluid, eliminating the need for blood draws. It works through an advanced biosensor that uses nanoparticles to augment the signal of elements in the tear fluid, making way for high-sensitivity monitoring of key biomarkers such as glucose, various hormones, and vitamins. Another such prototype offered was an advanced non-invasive glaucoma management system.